Ordering content in social networking applications

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for ordering content in social networking applications are described. A plurality of shared content pieces are received, that are viewable and accessible by at least one viewer. The shared content pieces are displayed in an initial order, wherein the displayed shared content pieces are accessed in a viewer order determined by an individual viewer. The viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer are received and stored in a data store, and the initial order is changed based at least in part upon at least one of the viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer, thereby providing an adjusted order.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Social networking applications can be web-based applications that canallow users to create and publish shared content on their personal webpages. Shared content can include all types of digital media accessibleby visitors to the personal web page, including text, web links,photographs, video content, and audio content. Using the socialnetworking application, access to the shared content can be restrictedto a subset of the users that can access the personal web page, whichcan itself be a subset of the users of the social networkingapplication. Permission to access the shared content can be set by theowner of the personal web page, for example. In some social networkingapplications, photos, for example, contained within an album can beviewed, and tagged, by other users of the social networking application.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for ordering content insocial networking applications are described. A plurality of sharedcontent pieces are received that are viewable and accessible by at leastone viewer. The shared content pieces are displayed in an initial order,wherein the displayed shared content pieces are accessed in a viewerorder determined by an individual viewer. The viewer order and anidentity of the individual viewer are received and stored in a datastore, and the initial order is changed based at least in part upon atleast one of the viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer,thereby providing an adjusted order.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system that can ordercontent in social networking applications.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a process for orderingcontent in social networking applications.

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a process forordering content in social networking applications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Processes, systems, and computer readable media for ordering content insocial networking applications are described. The following descriptionis presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and usethe invention and is provided in the context of a patent application andits requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiments andthe generic principles and features described herein will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accordedthe widest scope consistent with the principles and features describedherein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system that can ordercontent in social networking applications. The system can include a usercomputer 100, a network 104, and a server 106. The server 106 caninclude a social networking application site 108, which the usercomputer can access through the network 104 using a web browser 102, forexample. The network 104 can be the Internet, or any other type ofpublic or private wired or wireless network.

As described below, the system shown in FIG. 1 can be used to ordercontent in the social networking application 108. Ordering content insocial networking applications can cause content that is of greaterinterest to an individual or group of individuals to be more easilyaccessible to individuals browsing the content, thereby improvingbrowsing efficiency of the content.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a process for orderingcontent in social networking applications. A plurality of shared contentpieces are received that are viewable and accessible by at least oneviewer (block 200). The shared content pieces can be individuallyselectable content (e.g., images, files and/or web links) that can beaccessed by at least one viewer. The shared content pieces can includeall types of digital media accessible by viewers, including text, weblinks, digital photographs, digital video files, and digital audiofiles. The shared content pieces are viewable on an electronic visualdisplay, and can be accessible from a personal web page, a web feed, aweb service, or a stand-alone application on a portable device, forexample.

For example, a personal web page owner can upload digital photographs,which are received on the owner's personal web page. The personal webpage can be viewed by at least one viewer, which can be any personcapable of accessing the personal web page (e.g., the personal web pageowner's “friends”). The digital photographs are accessible by all of thepersonal web page owner's friends, or a subset thereof, based upon thepreferences of the personal web page owner. The digital photographs canbe organized into albums. The albums can be based upon certain themes,such as events (e.g., the personal web page owner's wedding), periods oftime, people known by the personal web page owner, etc.

The shared content pieces are displayed in an initial order, wherein thedisplayed shared content pieces are accessed in a viewer orderdetermined by an individual viewer (block 202). That is, the sharedcontent pieces are displayed to the individual viewer in a sequence,wherein the viewer can selectively access individual shared contentpieces in substantially any order the viewer chooses. For example, ifthe shared content pieces are digital photographs, the digitalphotographs can be displayed in a thumbnail display. Alternatively, thedigital photographs can be displayed in a slideshow, wherein the viewercan choose to view the digital photographs by selecting a number thatcorresponds to a different photograph. The initial order can be theorder that the personal web page owner uploaded the digital photographsonto the social networking site 108. The viewer order can be the orderthat the viewer elects to access (or view) the digital photographs.

In the example described above, the personal web page owner can have analbum of digital photographs relating to a wedding. The digitalphotographs can have an initial order, which can be the order that theywere taken, and can be displayed in a thumbnail display. The thumbnaildisplay can be accessed, or enlarged on the viewer's display, in anyorder that the individual viewer determines. For example, the personalweb page owner's sister may access the wedding album, and wish toenlarge digital photographs of the digital web page owner, which may betowards the bottom of the thumbnail display, or on a second or thirdpage of the album, before viewing other digital photographs in thealbum. Therefore, the personal web page owner's sister would have aviewer order (e.g., photo 1, photo 30, photo 31, photo 32) that differsfrom the initial order (e.g., photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4) inwhich the photographs are displayed in the wedding album.

The viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer are receivedand stored in a data store (block 204). In one embodiment, the datastore may comprise viewer-specific shared content files. However, inanother embodiment, the data store may comprise a repository or adatabase, for example. In an exemplary embodiment, the identity of theindividual viewer can include the viewer's name, the names of all of theviewer groups of social networking application users to which the viewerbelongs (e.g., the schools attended by the viewer, and/or theorganizations to which the viewer belongs), or any combination thereof.In the above-discussed example, the personal web page owner's sister'sidentity, including that she belonged to a “family” viewer group and a“hometown” viewer group, and her viewer order described above would bestored in a “sister” photo order file.

The initial order is changed based at least in part upon at least one ofthe viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer, therebyproviding an adjusted order (block 206). In an exemplary embodiment, theadjusted order can be identical to the viewer order. For example, thesister photo order file would be used by the social networkingapplication to change the order of the first four digital photographs inthe wedding album thumbnail display to be photo 1, photo 30, photo 31,and photo 32.

By providing an adjusted order for displaying the shared content piecesbased upon viewer behavior, which can be described by the viewer orderand the identity of the individual viewer, a more functional order canbe provided that improves viewing efficiency. Viewing efficiency can beimproved both by reducing time spent on viewing pieces of shared contentthat are not of community interest and by moving pieces of sharedcontent that are of community interest to be more easily accessible toviewers.

The changing the initial order can be performed by determining afrequency that each shared content pieces is accessed, and changing theinitial order based upon the frequency that each shared content piece isaccessed. For example, shared content pieces that are viewed with ahigher frequency, according to the viewer orders stored in the datastore, can be placed towards the front of the adjusted order. If, in theexample described above, the personal web page owner's family viewedphoto 15 more frequently than any other digital photograph in thewedding album, photo 15 would be moved to the first position in thewedding album thumbnail display. Likewise, shared content pieces thatare viewed with a lower frequency can be placed towards the rear of theadjusted order. Therefore, if the personal web page owner's family didnot view photo 2 a single time while viewing every other digitalphotograph in the wedding album, photo 2 would be moved to the lastposition in the wedding album thumbnail display.

The adjusted order can be based upon data aggregated from a plurality ofviewers in the data store. Viewer orders and identities of individualviewers for a plurality of viewers can be received and stored in thedata store. For example, a plurality of photo order files can be storedfor the personal web page owner's family. These photo order files caninclude data such as the order that the photographs are accessed, thefrequency the photographs are accessed (e.g., if the photographs areviewed multiple times at any given viewing, and/or if the family membervisited the personal web page multiple times), and the names and groupmemberships for each individual family member (i.e., the individualfamily member's identity). At least one of the viewer orders and theidentities of the individual viewers for the plurality of viewers can beanalyzed, and initial order can be changed based at least in part uponat least one of the viewer orders and the identities of the individualviewers for the plurality of viewers, thereby providing a cumulativeadjusted order. In an exemplary embodiment, the viewer orders retrievedfrom the data store can be used to determine the adjusted order. Thismeans, for example, that the initial order can be changed if digitalphotographs towards the end of the initial order are viewed by thefamily members towards the beginning of their individual viewer orders(e.g., these photographs can be moved towards the beginning of theadjusted order).

FIG. 3 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of a process forordering content in social networking applications. A plurality ofshared content pieces are received that are viewable and accessible byat least one viewer (block 300), as described above.

The plurality of shared content pieces can be received from a personalweb page owner. In an exemplary embodiment, an input can be receivedfrom the personal web page owner specifying a set of potential viewersfor which the viewer order is stored, wherein the storing the viewerorder and the identity of the individual viewer is only performed if theat least one viewer belongs to the set of potential viewers for whichthe viewer order is stored (block 302). The input can include selectingindividuals from the personal web page owners “friend list,” selectingentire viewer groups, or any combination thereof.

Specifying a set of potential viewers for which the viewer order isstored can be desirable, for example, when the personal web page ownerdesires to allow the shared content pieces to be reordered only based onthe input of certain viewers, and/or to allow the reordering only toaffect viewers belonging to certain viewer groups. These viewer groupscan include schools attended by the individual viewer, organizations towhich the individual viewer belongs, or any group of users created by auser of the social networking application (e.g. family members, friendsfrom a geographic region, etc.).

In an exemplary embodiment, the at least one viewer belongs to one ormore viewer groups, wherein the adjusted order is provided only for theone or more viewer groups to which the at least one viewer belongs. Inanother exemplary embodiment, the at least one viewer belongs to two ormore viewer groups, wherein the adjusted order is provided only forviewers that belong to all of the two or more viewer groups to which theat least one viewer belongs. In these, and similar embodiments, thepersonal web page owner can select which viewer group or groups receivethe adjusted order.

The shared content pieces are displayed in an initial order, wherein thedisplayed shared content pieces are accessed in a viewer orderdetermined by an individual viewer (block 304), as described above.Likewise, the viewer order and an identity of the individual viewer arereceived and stored into a data store (block 306), as described above.

In an exemplary embodiment, the personal web page owner can customizehis or her personal web page to change the order of the shared contentpieces automatically, or alternatively, to only change the order whenthe web page owner grants permission for the initial order to bechanged. In embodiments that use the latter configuration, approval fromthe personal web page owner can be received before changing the initialorder (block 308). The approval can take the form, for example, of thepersonal web page owner clicking “OK” in a dialog box, or by thepersonal web page owner placing conditions that need to be met before anautomatic approval is given for changing the initial order (e.g., apredetermined number of viewers providing a viewer orders differing fromthe initial order, or a shared content piece being accessed apredetermined number of times). In an exemplary embodiment, the personalweb page owner can have the initial order changed after a predeterminedperiod of time and change the initial order at least in part upon atleast one of viewer orders and identities of individual viewers for aplurality of viewers in the data store, as described above.

The initial order is changed based at least in part upon at least one ofthe viewer order and the identity of the individual viewer, therebyproviding an adjusted order (block 310), as described above.

In an exemplary embodiment, the invention is implemented in software,which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software,microcode, etc. The invention can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description,a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus thatcan contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program foruse by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include asemiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), arigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of opticaldisks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compactdisk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system eitherdirectly or through intervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters.

The present invention is mainly described in terms of particular systemsprovided in particular implementations. However, one of ordinary skillin the art will readily recognize that this method and system willoperate effectively in other implementations. For example, the systems,devices, and networks usable with the present invention can take anumber of different forms. The present invention will also be describedin the context of particular methods having certain steps. However, themethod and system operate effectively for other methods having differentand/or additional steps not inconsistent with the present invention.

A method and system for ordering content in social networkingapplications has been described. The present invention has beendescribed in accordance with the embodiments shown, and one of ordinaryskill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variationsto the embodiments, and any variations would be within the spirit andscope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may bemade by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from thescope of the appended claims.

1. A method for ordering content in social networking applications,comprising: receiving a plurality of shared content pieces that areviewable and accessible by at least one viewer; displaying the sharedcontent pieces in an initial order, wherein the displayed shared contentpieces are accessed in a viewer order determined by an individualviewer; receiving and storing the viewer order and an identity of theindividual viewer in a data store; and changing the initial order basedat least in part upon at least one of the viewer order and the identityof the individual viewer, thereby providing an adjusted order.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the plurality of shared content piecescomprise digital photographs.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein theadjusted order is identical to the viewer order.
 4. The method of claim1 wherein the at least one viewer belongs to one or more viewer groups,wherein the adjusted order is provided only for the one or more viewergroups to which the at least one viewer belongs.
 5. The method of claim4 wherein the at least one viewer belongs to two or more viewer groups,wherein the adjusted order is provided only for viewers that belong toall of the two or more viewer groups to which the at least one viewerbelongs.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the shared content pieces arereceived from a personal web page owner, further comprising receiving aninput from the personal web page owner specifying a set of potentialviewers for which the viewer order is stored, wherein the storing theviewer order and the identity of the individual viewer is only performedif the at least one viewer belongs to the set of potential viewers forwhich the viewer order is stored.
 7. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising receiving and storing viewer orders and identities ofindividual viewers for a plurality of viewers in the data store,analyzing at least one of the viewer orders and the identities of theindividual viewers for the plurality of viewers, and changing theinitial order based at least in part upon at least one of the viewerorders and the identities of the individual viewers for the plurality ofviewers, thereby providing a cumulative adjusted order.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the changing the initial order comprises determining afrequency that each shared content pieces is accessed, and changing theinitial order based upon the frequency that each shared content piece isaccessed.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the shared content pieces arereceived from a personal web page owner, further comprising receivingapproval from the personal web page owner before changing the initialorder.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the changing the initial orderis performed after a predetermined period of time and is based at leastin part upon at least one of viewer orders and identities of individualviewers for a plurality of viewers in the data store.
 11. A system forordering content in social networking applications, comprising: aserver; and a social networking application executing on the server,wherein the social networking application is configured to: receive aplurality of shared content pieces that are viewable and accessible byat least one viewer; display the shared content pieces in an initialorder, wherein the displayed shared content pieces are accessed in aviewer order determined by an individual viewer; receive and store theviewer order and an identity of the individual viewer in a data store;and change the initial order at least in part upon at least one of theviewer order and the identity of the individual viewer, therebyproviding an adjusted order.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein theplurality of shared content pieces comprise digital photographs.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11 wherein the adjusted order is identical to the viewerorder.
 14. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one viewerbelongs to one or more viewer groups, wherein the adjusted order isprovided only for the one or more viewer groups to which the at leastone viewer belongs.
 15. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least oneviewer belongs to two or more viewer groups, wherein the adjusted orderis provided only for viewers that belong to all of the two or moreviewer groups to which the at least one viewer belongs.
 16. The systemof claim 11 wherein the plurality of shared content pieces are receivedfrom a personal web page owner, wherein the social networkingapplication is further configured to receive an input from the personalweb page owner specifying a set of potential viewers for which theviewer order is stored, wherein the storing the viewer order and theidentity of the individual viewer is only performed if the at least oneviewer belongs to the set of potential viewers for which the viewerorder is stored.
 17. The system of claim 11 wherein the socialnetworking application is further configured to receive and store viewerorders and identities of individual viewers for a plurality of viewersin the data store, analyze at least one of the viewer orders and theidentities of the individual viewers for the plurality of viewers, andchange the initial order based at least in part upon at least one of theviewer orders and the identities of the individual viewers for theplurality of viewers
 18. The system of claim 11 wherein the socialnetworking application is configured to change the initial order bydetermining a frequency that each shared content pieces is accessed, andchanging the initial order based upon the frequency that each sharedcontent piece is accessed.
 19. The system of claim 11 wherein theplurality of shared content pieces are received from a personal web pageowner, wherein the social networking application is further configuredto receive approval from the personal web page owner before changing theinitial order.
 20. An executable software product stored on acomputer-readable medium containing program instructions for orderingcontent in social networking applications, the program instructions for:receiving a plurality of shared content pieces viewable and accessibleby at least one viewer; displaying the shared content pieces in aninitial order, wherein the displayed shared content pieces are accessedin a viewer order determined by an individual viewer; receiving andstoring the viewer order and an identity of the individual viewer in adata store; and changing the initial order based at least in part uponat least one of the viewer order and the identity of the individualviewer, thereby providing an adjusted order.
 21. The executable softwareproduct of claim 20 wherein the plurality of shared content piecescomprise digital photographs.
 22. The executable software product ofclaim 20 wherein the adjusted order is identical to the viewer order.23. The executable software product of claim 20 wherein the at least oneviewer belongs to one or more viewer groups, wherein the adjusted orderis provided only for the one or more viewer groups to which the at leastone viewer belongs.
 24. The executable software product of claim 23wherein the at least one viewer belongs to two or more viewer groups,wherein the adjusted order is provided only for viewers that belong toall of the two or more viewer groups to which the at least one viewerbelongs.
 25. The executable software product of claim 20 wherein theplurality of shared content pieces are received from a personal web pageowner, further comprising program instructions for receiving an inputfrom the personal web page owner specifying a set of potential viewersfor which the viewer order is stored, wherein the storing the viewerorder and the identity of the individual viewer is only performed if theat least one viewer belongs to the set of potential viewers for whichthe viewer order is stored.